Tag: Nate Rogers

Posted on

The Shakes & Pony Show @ Moe’s Lounge 1.6.2012

Rodrigo Van Stoli and Jason Baldock were tasked with opening Moe’s Lounge* with a bang. The duo cooked up a residency where they would pick a different theme for each night** and assemble a ragtag group of local rockers to help them pull it off. Night one was Mixtape-Mixtape night, where the gang*** performed selections from the various nights of the MixTape series they’ve been involved with. What you ended up with was a mishmash of covers spanning decades. A couple of highlights were some great interplay between Rodrigo Van Stoli and Rona Mattocks on “Beast Of Burden” and a snappy cover of Robert Plant’s “Tall Cool One”. The night ended with a “Daydream Believer” singalong.

Welcome to The Shakes & Pony Show…

* Moe’s Lounge is downstairs at Radio. Seeing a show there is like hanging out in your friend’s basement. Good times.

** To find out what’s in store for the rest of the residency, check out this amazing poster by the wonderful and talented Nicole Anguish of Daykamp Creative.

*** Which at various times included 2/3 of Brownboot, 2/5 of Sidewalk Driver, 1/5 of The Future Everybody, 1/6 of Fit To Be Tied, all of Tad & Kate and 4/5 of Bright Lights, Big Rod.

Posted on

Nate Rogers @ Moe’s Lounge 1.6.2012

Friday night marked the opening of Moe’s Lounge downstairs at Radio. While they’ve had a couple of shows in the wood paneled basement in the past, this was the official coming out party.

Nate Rogers was the first person to play in the newly christened room. To honor the occasion, Nate performed a set of songs spanning his entire career. There were “hits” and “deep cuts” from both The Future Everybody and Scamper. The highlight of the set? Nate performed “Test Tube Babies”*, a song he wrote when he was seventeen. So great.

* The song raises the question: “Are the adults in bigger tubes?” Awesome.

Posted on

Magnum Force @ Radio 12.10.2011

Every MixTape show needs one band to suck it up and play the hits. Don’t re-interpret the songs. Don’t play the songs only the cool kids were into. Take one for the team. It’s MixTape 1988. Someone has to play “Kokomo”. In this case, it’s six somebodies. Six somebodies dressed in Hawaiian shirts, Detroit Tigers hats, short shorts and mustaches. Magnum Force.*

When I saw Brendan Boogie sporting an honest to goodness mustache early in the evening, he informed me it was part of his costume for the show. I immediately hoped it was a Weekend At Bernie’s reference and that Brendan Boogie would just play dead on stage. I guess my internal movie database** was off by a year, as that landmark film was released in 1989. I was only mildly disappointed at the Magnum P.I. theme.

* This band was originally billed as Pour Somerville Sugar On Me. Halfway through their set they changed their name to Hungry Guys.

** Hmmm… IMDB. That’s catchy.

Posted on

Bright Lights, Big Rod @ Radio 12.10.2011

Bright Lights, Big Rod. Let that sink in for a minute.

MixTape 1988 brought us a super duper supergroup. A superdupergroup. Bright Lights, Big Rod featured some of the fine folks that brought you Brownboot, Sidewalk Driver, Boston Band Crush, Parlour Bells, Noble Rot*, Low Static Romance, Bang Camaro, Bikini Whale, Waste Management, Boston.com and who knows what else. They joined forces to dust off some of the hippest songs of 1988. Like “In Your Room” by The Bangles. Seriously, how great a song is that?!?!

As much fun as the whole night was, MixTape 1988 will be defined by one thing for me: Bright Lights, Big Rod’s “Robert P Medley”. It was a seamless blend of Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” and Robert Plant’s “Tall Cool One”. How could that not be awesome? It couldn’t not be awesome.

* Which I just mistyped as Noble Rod. I rule.

Posted on

Brian King @ Radio 12.10.2011

Who’s that all decked out like a scruffy Bret Michaels? Why, that’s Brian King of What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?

Backed at times by various members of The Brendan Burns Instrumental Heptad, Mr. King tore down the hits of 1988. His rendition of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” prompted the first sing-along of the night, with Nate Rogers and Rod Van Stoli jumping in on the action.

Posted on

Corvette Somerville @ The Rosebud Bar 9.10.2011

The hot one is coming!

The MixTape series has a history of turning out one-off groups. Corvette Somerville is one such band. This band was as tricked out as the vehicle in the movie they punned their name from.

Oh yeah, any event that ends with Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” is OK by me.*

* Like my wedding.

Posted on

Nate Rogers @ The Rosebud Bar 9.10.2011

Nate Rogers is the mastermind behind the Boston Band Crush MixTape series. For MixTape 1978, he decided to have a few MixTape veterans open the night with short acoustic sets.* Nate himself even got up on the newly carpeted Rosebud stage to perform Billy Joel’s “My Life” and Clapton’s “Lay Down Sally”. Davina Yanetty, another MixTape alumnus, jumped up to sing harmonies… for the entire set. She does that.

Kudos to the bearded one for putting together a fun night in the rock n’ roll time machine.

Full Disclosure: Nicole Anguish of Daykamp Creative did the bitchin’ poster for this show. Check it out here.

* Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the fine sets by MacKenzie and Stu of This Blue Heaven or Dave Mirabella of The Rationales. Rest assured, they were most enjoyable.